rehabilitation

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˌriː.həˌbɪl.ɪˈteɪ.ʃən/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French réhabilitation and directly from Medieval Latin rehabilitātiō, restoration,^[2][3] a noun from the past participle of rehabilitāre,^[2][3] from re-, again, and habilitāre, to make fit, from Latin habilis, suitable (see able).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Re-establishing a person in a former rank, privilege or standing: 1533–4 in the OED, the 1530s in Etymonline.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

Re-establishing someone's reputation, vindicating their character, is from 1876.^[4] Restoring a thing to a previous condition is from 1858,^[4][2] and to a higher moral state from 1868.^[4] The modern sense, restoring a disabled person, an addict or a criminal to a normal life, is by 1940.^[2][4] In medicine it includes treatment by exercise and therapy after illness or injury.^[5]

Timeline

• 1533–4 – restoration to rank.^[4]
• 1858 – restoration of a thing.^[4][2]
• 1876 – vindication of character.^[4]
• 1940 – restoration to normal life.^[2][4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The process of helping someone return to normal life after illness, injury, addiction or prison.
2. Restoration of something to a good condition.
3. Restoration of a person's good name or former rank.

Word family

• nonrehabilitation

Related words

• rehabilitate
• able
• habit

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins